Mayor Eric Garcetti is promising to end homelessness among veterans. Oakland Raiders cheerleaders’ minimum wage pay. Iraqis that worked with the Americans trying to come to the U.S. Web roundup: the end of online passwords, dating sites that use DNA, and chat roulette for stoners.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Mayor Eric Garcetti is promising to end homelessness among veterans in Los Angeles by the end of next year. Meanwhile, the situation on LA’s Skid Row is worse than ever, but the city and county say they have a new plan to improve services. After a lawsuit, the Oakland Raiders offered to double their cheerleaders’ pay. The team is offering the Raiderettes minimum wage. Tens of thousands of Iraqis that worked with the Americans during the war are afraid for their lives and trying to come to the U.S. But many of their cases are caught up in red tape. And in our regular web roundup: the end of online passwords, dating sites that use DNA, and chat roulette for stoners.

Mayor Eric Garcetti has promised today to end homelessness among veterans by the end of next year. It’s a pledge the White House has asked mayors around the country to make. And today, the mayor and First Lady Michelle Obama were in Century City unveiling plans to make good on their promise.

For decades, city and county officials have tried to clean up the 50-block neighborhood in downtown. But Skid Row still has the country’s highest concentration of homeless people. Most of them struggle with substance abuse or mental illness, or both. That has made policing the area, and getting people into housing, very difficult over the years. But now the city is teaming up with the county on a new approach.

Earlier this month, the Oakland Raiders offered to double their cheerleaders’ pay. It’s hardly a king’s ransom. The team is offering the Raiderettes minimum wage. They’d also get overtime and some expense money. There are no changes to the work rules spelled out in the Raiderettes’ handbook, which reads like it was written back in the days of Mad Men.

During the war in Iraq, tens of thousands of Iraqis worked with the Americans as translators, drivers, cooks and janitors. The work paid well, but it but it was dangerous; Anti-American militias sometimes killed or tortured people who worked for the Americans. Now many of these Iraqis want to come to the U.S for safety, but they’re requests are usually tied-up in red tape for years and years...sometimes until it’s too late.